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German business jet 'flipped three times by Emirates A380'

The 12-passenger jet was thrown into a freefall over the Arabian Sea due to so-called "wake turbulence" from an Airbus A380. The January incident which only become public recently left one passenger seriously hurt.

A German business jet was flipped at least three times and thrown into an uncontrolled descent when an Emirates jet flew too close, respected aviation news outlet "Aviation Herald" reported.

An Emirates Airbus A380-800 from Dubai to Sydney reportedly flew just 1,000 feet (300 meters) above a Canadair Challenger 604 operated by Munich firm MHS Aviation. The incident took place near Oman.

The resulting turbulence threw the small jet with nine passengers into a 10,000-foot (3048-meter) freefall, shutting down both engines, the website reported.

The crew then managed to recover control and made an emergency landing at Muscat airport, with one seriously injured passenger. The plane was written off due to the damage and several passengers were hospitalized, the report said.

Probe underway

Details of the January incident will be covered in an upcoming report from the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, but the "Aviation Herald" was able to publish details of the incident earlier.

MHS said it was unable to comment due to an ongoing investigation.

The company runs a fleet of 24 aircraft and is the largest executive charter operator in Germany, according to its website.

The "Aviation Herald" saw alerts to air traffic controllers to be particularly careful of A380s crossing above other flights.

So-called "wake turbulence" from A380s has caused a number of incidents in aviation recently, including when an Air France A320-200 was violently jolted by an Emirates A380 near Frankfurt airport.

German airports boast record passenger numbers

Passengers galore

German airports logged a record number of 111.9 million passengers last year. The figure marked a 3.4-percent increase from a year earlier, Germany's statistics office reported.

German airports boast record passenger numbers

The further away the better?

Over 88 million people using German airports in 2016 traveled to foreign destinations. That's a 3.6-percent surge year on year. The remaining close to 24 million passengers booked domestic flights (+2.8 percent).

German airports boast record passenger numbers

Canary Islands and the like

Destinations in Europe were most popular, the figures revealed. A record number of 13.7 million people flew to Spain last year, with Greece also posting an above-average increase in arrivals.

German airports boast record passenger numbers

Tourists staying away

By contrast, the number of people using German airports and traveling to Turkey last year dropped by 16.6 percent. That's no big surprise, given the recent political upheavals and terror attacks in the country.

German airports boast record passenger numbers

Long-haul flights: mixed picture

Overall, the number of long-haul passengers starting from Germany edged up by 0.5 percent in 2016, with a bigger demand for flights to Asia and the Americas. But fewer people decided to travel to Africa (Egypt down 33.1 percent, Tunisia down 27.9 percent).